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A famous artwork is shown as it is viewed by an artificial neural network

On the Cover

November-December 2015
Volume 103, Number 6

A famous artwork is shown as it is viewed by an artificial neural network, a computer program that has been trained to recognize and classify images. A technique called deep dreaming attempts to visualize various stages in the neural network’s process of analysis. Shown here is one of the early stages, where a layer of artificial neurons seems to conjure up geometric motifs drawn from a jumble of unrelated images...


FEATURE ARTICLES

Where the Xingu Bends and Will Soon Break

Mark Sabaj Pérez

A hotly contested megadam threatens an incubator for evolutionary diversity in Brazil.


Restoring Depth to Leonardo’s Mona Lisa *

Claus-Christian Carbon, Vera M. Hesslinger

Was La Gioconda an early model for three-dimensional imaging?


The Rising Cost of Resources and Global Indicators of Change

Carey W. King

The turn of this century saw the cheapest-ever energy and food combined, and here’s why we may never return to those historic low numbers.


In Defense of Pure Mathematics *

Daniel S. Silver

After 75 years, Godfrey Harold Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology still fuels debate over pure versus applied mathematics.


* access restricted to members and subscribers


SCIENTISTS’ NIGHTSTAND

An Ethical Evolution

Jacob Darwin Hamblin

A brief review of Scientists at War: The Ethics of Cold War Weapons Research, by Sarah Bridger

See all book reviews for this issue


DEPARTMENTS

FROM THE EDITORS

25 Years in North Carolina

Jamie L. Vernon

COMPUTING SCIENCE

Computer Vision and Digital Hallucinations

A peek inside an artificial neural network reveals some pretty freaky images.

Brian Hayes

ENGINEERING

From Lowly Paper Clips to Towering Suspension Bridges*

Over the course of 150 columns for this magazine, the author has uncovered great engineering lessons all around, in places big and small.

Henry Petroski

PERSPECTIVE

Taking the Long View on Sexism in Science

I am one of the many women who exited academic science. Decades later, too many others are still leaving for the same reasons.

Pat Shipman

ARTS LAB

To Study the Brain, Track the Eyes

Despite striving for objectivity, scientists bring their subjective experiences to their work. Collaborations with artists show this is not always a bad thing.

Indre Viskontas

2015-11ArtsLabViskontas1.jpgClick to Enlarge Image

SIGHTINGS

A Story of Serration

How did theropods, the meat-eating dinosaurs, develop their distinctive serrated teeth? High-tech microscopy reveals new clues.

Sandra J. Ackerman

2015-11SightingsF1.jpgClick to Enlarge Image

SPOTLIGHT

Making the Cut

Japanese paper arts are inspiring materials scientists with new ways to turn flat sheets into functional devices.

Fenella Saunders

Orion's Path to Liftoff

Aerospace engineer Nujoud Merancy, the mission planning and analysis lead for Orion, gives an overview of the spacecraft and its development.

Fenella Saunders

INFOGRAPHIC

Orion's First Test Flight

An infographic explores details of the Orion spacecraft's flight test.

Briefings

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Mantis Shrimp Impact

The Full Monte Carlo

Extreme Cloaking

A Fly-By Mission


SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)



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